Honorary degree recipients over the years

This year, four extraordinary individuals received honorary degrees from ASU for their contributions to society. The four awardees were: Tom Brokaw, respected news anchor; Temple Grandin, researcher and professor of animal science; Eric Kandel, Austrian-born American neuroscientist; and Lim Chuan Poh, chairmain of A*STAR.

Let’s take a look back at some of the other influential people who have received honorary degrees from ASU over the years:

Above: Walter Cronkite (above right), for whom the university’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications is named, received an honorary degree in 1989. Cronkite is shown during a 2004 awards event with the current President of ASU, Michael Crow.

William Kajikawa (center) was presented with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in the summer of 1989 by interim university President Richard Peck, to acknowledge Kajikawa’s 50-plus years of service to Arizona State University. Christine Kajikawa Wilkinson, then the acting vice president of student affairs and currently ASU’s senior vice president and secretary of the university is at right.

Kajikawa served as the university’s basketball coach from 1949 to 1957 and also served as the university’s baseball coach and assistant football coach. The Sun Devil football team’s practice field bears his name.

Poet and author Rita Dove is hooded during the spring 1995 commencement. Dove taught creative writing at ASU from 1981 to 1989. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1987 and was the youngest person named “Poet Laureate of the United States.”

Alfredo Gutierrez is fitted with a mortarboard as he prepares to receive his honorary degree in December 1999. Gutierrez worked for ASU following his service in the military and attended the university until he was “kicked out” for leading a takeover of the president’s office by students. He has also been a community organizer, legislative leader, businessman-consultant, bon vivant and Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

Eddie Basha, chairman and CEO of Basha’s Inc., is greeted by President Lattie Coor (left) during the spring 1999 commencement. Basha is a longtime advocate for education, serving on the Arizona Board of Regents, the State Board of Education and the Chandler School Board.

Jewell McFarland Lewis and her husband Delbert Lewis, owners of KTVK television station in Phoenix and long time civic activists in the Valley received honorary degrees in 2001. Jewell is the daughter of Ernest W. McFarland, who served his state and country as a U.S. senator, senate majority leader, governor and chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. He was a founder of the Arizona Television Company (KTVK). She received her doctorate in education from ASU in 1983.